The River Trent is the third-longest river in the United Kingdom. Its source is in Staffordshire on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through and drains most of the northern Midlands around and east of Birmingham. The river is known for dramatic flooding after storms and spring snowmelt, which in past times often caused the river to change course.

The river passes through Stoke-on-Trent, Burton-upon-Trent and Nottingham before joining the River Ouse at Trent Falls to form the Humber Estuary, which empties into the North Sea between Hull in Yorkshire and Immingham in Lincolnshire. The wide estuary is a traditional boundary between northern England and the Midlands.